This application is related to and claims priority, under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119, from Japanese Patent Application No. 13-172860, filed on Jun. 7, 2001 in the Japanese Patent Office, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a sheet feeding apparatus for use in an image forming apparatus, such as a copier, a facsimile, a printer, etc. and more particularly, to a sheet feeding apparatus including a sheet containing tray having a side guide member that aligns side ends of sheets contained in the sheet containing tray and withdrawable from the image forming apparatus in a direction perpendicular to a sheet feeding direction.
2. Discussion of the Background
A so-called front loading type sheet feeding apparatus has been known in the past. Specifically, a front loading type sheet feeding apparatus includes: a sheet containing tray withdrawable from a housed position to a front side of the apparatus body; a sheet feeding device for feeding sheets in a direction approximately perpendicular to the withdrawal direction of the sheet containing tray; and a pair of side guide members extending in parallel to a sheet feeding direction for aligning side ends of the sheets. As illustrated in FIG. 7, a pair of rear and front side fences 101 and 102 are arranged to align side ends of sheets P in a widthwise direction B perpendicular to the sheet feeding direction A in a sheet containing tray 100 of such a front loading type of sheet feeding apparatus. Also provided is an end fence 103 for aligning a sheet trailing end upstream of the sheet feeding direction A.
The sheets P are raised by a bottom plate lifting apparatus (not shown) and then fed by the sheet feeding device, such as a feeding roller, when the uppermost sheet reaches a sheet feeding position located at a prescribed height xe2x80x9chxe2x80x9d for the sheet feeding device. In the sheet feeding apparatus, when the sheets P are fed and a sheet jam occurs in the sheet containing tray, a leading end of a jammed sheet Pxe2x80x2 possibly remains in the vicinity of the feeding roller. Thus, when a user draws the sheet containing tray 100 in the widthwise direction B in order to remove the jammed sheet Pxe2x80x2, the jammed sheet Pxe2x80x2 can unfortunately climb over a rear side fence 101. In particular, when a small size sheet is utilized, a problem sometimes arises such that the small size sheet sneaks through a gap xe2x80x9csxe2x80x9d formed between a right side wall 100xe2x80x2 of the sheet containing tray 100 and the rear side fence 101, and remains in the apparatus body of the image forming apparatus as illustrated by a dotted line in FIG. 7. When the jammed sheet Pxe2x80x2, after having climbed over the rear side fence 101, remains in the apparatus body of the image forming apparatus, it is difficult for a user to remove the jammed sheet Pxe2x80x2, and a situation known as xe2x80x9ccall jam,xe2x80x9d requiring a request to a service person, arises. Accordingly, a prompt jam recovery operation is disadvantageously not achieved. As a result, a working ratio is lowered.
Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 9-77291 refers to a sheet remaining avoiding mechanism used for the similar purpose. Specifically, a protruding section is upwardly formed from the rear side fence 101, and is setback from a rear side of a sheet setting range (i.e., a rear side end of a sheet P). Thus, when the sheet containing tray 100 is withdrawn, the jammed sheet Pxe2x80x2 collides with the rear side fence 101 and is largely bent. However, jammed sheet Pxe2x80x2 is not blocked by the protruding section and climbs over the rear side fence 101 and the protruding section. If the protruding section hangs over at a position certainly higher than an upper surface of the rear side fence 101, a jammed sheet Pxe2x80x2 can surely be prevented from climbing over the rear side fence 101 and the protruding section. However, due to multi-step tendency in sheet containing trays of an image forming apparatus of recent date, a height per a step is suppressed, and as a result, that of the vertically protruding section cannot sufficiently be assigned.
Further, the sheet remaining avoiding mechanism of Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 9-175677 has a complex configuration. Specifically, sheet replenishment is disadvantageously difficult because a pair of sheet suppressing members largely horizontally protrude from respective rear side and front side fences 101 and 102 toward a sheet stack range.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to address and resolve the above-noted and other problems of prior art sheet feeding apparatus and to provide a new sheet feeding apparatus. The above and other objects are achieved according to the present invention by providing a novel sheet feeding apparatus including a sheet containing tray withdrawable from a housed position to a front side of an apparatus body. A sheet-feeding device is provided so as to feed a sheet in the sheet containing tray in a direction perpendicular to the withdrawal direction of the sheet containing tray. A pair of side aligning members are also provided so as to align widthwise ends of the sheets in the sheet containing tray. The aligning member of the rear side in the withdrawal direction includes a hitching member, horizontally protruding toward a sheet setting range, to hitch and prevent a sheet from remaining when the sheet containing tray is withdrawn. The hitching member includes a protruding plate so as to overhang the uppermost sheet set on the sheet containing tray at a position a prescribed length downstream of a downstream end of the rear side-aligning member. A joining member is also provided so as to join the protruding plate and the rear side aligning member. The joining member positions a prescribed length behind a rear side end of the sheets aligned by the rear side aligning member.
In another embodiment, the protruding plate slightly protrudes from the rear side end of the sheets.
In yet another embodiment, the protruding plate includes a slanted and bent portion at its front side or rear side.